Rugby World Cup
The RFU put money behind the bar for England players on their controversial Rugby World Cup night out in Queenstown, New Zealand.
England Vice Captain Mike Tindall has been fined 25 000 Pounds and removed from the England elite player squad for his conduct during the Rugby World Cup.
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has been nominated for a royal honour, and possibly a knighthood, just days after leading the team to victory in the Rugby World Cup.
French No.8 Imanol Harinordoquy of Biarritz said that the French coach Marc Lièvremont was lost at the World Cup in New Zealand and that the players had taken over the running of the team, ignoring their coach.
Respected sport scientist and long standing friend of RuggaWorld, Dr. Ross Tucker, offers his views on the Rugby World Cup and specifically referees and how their performance is damaging the game’s credibility.
Article originally published on The Science of Sport website
Thanks Morne & RuggaWorld. Some of the responses will be brought over to appear under the comments. I found this article to be one of the very best I have ever read. Warning it is long, take your time and read the comments too.
New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup winning coach Graham Henry has indicated that he would be interested in working with the RFU in England in the future.
Samoan captain Mahroni Schwalger has blamed his team’s World Cup failure on a lack of professionalism and a culture of alcohol abuse in the team management.
New Zealand media have accused a French player of head-butting and eye gouging All Black captain Richie McCaw in the Rugby World Cup final.
All Blacks manager Darren Shand says the French rugby team should not have been fined for confronting New Zealand’s Maori haka or ceremonial challenge in the tense moments before kick-off in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup final.
Hundreds of thousands of jubilant New Zealanders packed central Auckland for the All Blacks victory parade on Monday, celebrating their “ultimate achievement” in winning the Rugby World Cup.
It may be New Zealand’s moment in the limelight, but the Springbok victories in 1995 and 2007 will be honoured as the captains and coaches of World Cup winning teams are inducted into the International Rugby Board’s Hall of Fame tonight.
International Rugby Board chairman Bernard Lapasset says that Wales cannot be certain of hosting Rugby World Cup matches when the tournament moves to England in 2015.
So the world cup is over, and what have we learnt?There were some controversial issues, some very close matches and some really angry fans.
All Blacks (5) 8 / France (0) 7 (Final Score)
The New Zealand All Blacks and France did battle in the Final of Rugby World Cup 2011 at Eden Park, Auckland at 10:00 SA Time (21:00 NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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The All Blacks held out a very galant and determined France side… and wins Rugby World Cup 2011 by 1 point.
Yip, that’s right… only 1 point!
The concept of the X-factor actually comes from racehorses, specifically from a horse called Eclipse. An extremely large heart is a trait that occasionally occurs in Thoroughbreds, linked to a genetic condition passed down via the dam line, known as the “x-factor”.
Eclipse, the horse, was necropsied after his death in 1789. Because Eclipse’s heart appeared to be much larger than other horses, it was weighed, and found to be 14 pounds (6.4 kg), almost twice the normal weight. Eclipse is believed to have passed the trait on via his daughters, and pedigree research verified that arguably the best racehorse ever, namely Secretariat can trace in his dam line to a daughter of Eclipse.
In the 20th century, the heart of Phar Lap was weighed and also documented to be 6.35 kilograms (14.0 lb), or essentially the same size as that of Eclipse.
Now you might ask what this has got to do with the All Blacks and the Rugby World Cup final.
Wallabies (7) 21 / Wales (3) 18 (Final Score)
The Australian Wallabies and Wales did battle at Eden Park, Auckland at 09:30 SA Time (20:30 NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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The Wallabies take the spoils and the Rugby World Cup 2011 Bronze medal in a match which promised so much at the start and then deteriorated into a scrappy affair.
The best passage of play in the match was probably the last 28-phase possession play by Wales, leading to Leigh Halfpenny’s try after full time was well over.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry on Friday named his team to play New Zealand in their Rugby World Cup 2011 Final against France at Eden Park, Auckland on Sunday 23 October at 10:00 SA Time, 21:00 NZ Time.
I still just can’t get over that quarter final loss.
The more I think about it the more I feel we were robbed. Yes, the referee was bad and wrong and yes we contributed to our demise with how we approached the game and by the appointment of a puppet as Springbok coach 4 years ago. However, all of that (poor referee, game plan, coach selection) and the Pool construction process at this year’s Rugby World Cup is part of an insidious virus, in my opinion, which is destroying Rugby Union as we know it. It is this virus which orchestrated our demise in the Rugby World Cup quarter final match against Australia.
Former All Black coach Laurie Mains has not been happy with the standard of refereeing at the Rugby World Cup.
“I’ve been appalled by the refereeing, especially how they have decided games with scrum penalties,” Mains said.
“Games have been won and lost from scrum penalties when the wrong decision was made. You should not have a situation in rugby where games are won and lost by the referee’s guess,” he said. Continue reading
While Australia and Wales arrived at the Rugby World Cup with different goals but have ended up with the same intention: To go home with something tangible to show.